2026
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April
Strong Beams, Wobbly Moments
Read MoreWelcome to April! On this past Monday, the Parent/Caregiver Association read a passage from the book Scaffold Parenting by Harold S. Koplewicz of the Child Mind Institute. We read chapter 8, “Building Strength.” After sending recent communications to the FSS community, I found it ironic that we would be talking about resilience and grit. It was a timely subject!One of the quiet truths of childhood is that it is, in many ways, a long series of transitions. New classrooms, shifting friendships, growing expectations, small failures, and big feelings, all unfolding in rapid succession. From the outside, it can look like a steady march forward. From the inside, for a child, it often feels like constant change. -
March
Community Engagement at Fayerweather Street School
Read MoreAs I prepare to rejoin Fayerweather after a few months of parental leave, I’m thinking about one of the most fulfilling parts of my work in Advancement at Fayerweather, which revolves around community engagement. I see community engagement not just as outreach, but as relationship-building, cultivating partnerships that extend the values of FSS beyond our doors while inviting the broader community into our school in meaningful ways. Working closely and with the leadership of Karina and Ann, I’m grateful to lead and help support some great projects geared towards community engagement. -
Go Boats! Celebrating Tradition, Innovation, and Joy as a Catalyst for Learning
Read MoreFor more than 50 years, the Fayerweather Regatta has been one of the most joyful and uniquely “Fayerweather” traditions of the school year. If you’ve stood in the recess yard on a sunny May morning — listening to nautical tunes from Rob and Kate, watching boats wobble and glide across the pool, and joining a crowd united in the chant of “GO BOATS!” — you know this is much more than a race.Each spring, students have the option to design and build boats through our Shop program. They imagine, sketch, revise, problem-solve, collaborate, and ultimately launch their creations into the water. Some boats are engineered for speed. Others are whimsical works of art. This is project-based learning at its best.Students are navigating real challenges, revising their work, and seeing how their ideas perform in the real world. The Regatta asks students to think creatively, explore intellectually, and engage meaningfully with their community; exactly as our mission calls us to do.The Regatta also embodies our belief that there is potential for joy in all learning. It is rigorous, yes, but it is also playful, musical, communal, and loud in the very best way.When the entire crowd cheers “GO BOATS!” rather than rooting for a single winner, we are modeling something powerful: collective celebration. The joy is not reserved for one champion; it belongs to everyone who dared to build, test, and launch. -
School as a Sanctuary
Read MoreThere is a word I've been sitting with lately: sanctuary.At its root, sanctuary means a place set apart. Sacred, protected, consecrated to something greater than the pressures of the ordinary world. Historically, sanctuaries were spaces where people could enter and know, with certainty, that they were safe. That the chaos outside could not follow them through the door.I believe that is exactly what a school is meant to be. And right now, in this particular moment, I believe it more urgently than ever. Children cannot learn when they are afraid. This is not a philosophical position; it is a neurological fact, backed by decades of research in child development and the science of learning. When a child's nervous system is in a state of threat or hypervigilance, the parts of the brain responsible for curiosity, memory, and meaning-making simply cannot do their work. Safety is not the soft part of education. It is the foundation upon which everything else rests. -
February
The Classroom Expanded: Why We Are Voyaging to Puerto Rico
Read MoreAs we approach Monday, February 9th, there is a palpable energy in the hallways. Just yesterday, I was speed-walking to a meeting when a Unit student intercepted me. "Kim," they asked with genuine enthusiasm, "Are you excited about the trip?" I paused. For a microsecond, my brain didn't go to tropical breezes. It went to my inbox, the logistical challenge of leaving the office for a week, and the weight of ensuring dozens of children are safe across the ocean. But I shoved my internal "To-Do" list into a mental drawer, smiled, and said, "Of course I am." And the funny thing is, as soon as I said it, I realized it was true. I am excited for our school and students to have this opportunity!
While the packing lists are being checked and the sunscreen is being bought, I want to take a moment to pause and frame exactly why we are about to board planes for Puerto Rico, and why this trip represents a critical piece of Fayerweather's academic vision. From February 9th through the 13th, our students will not merely be "visiting" a Caribbean island; they will be engaging in a rigorous, immersive case study of history, ecology, and culture. -
January
Teaching Westward Expansion in the Latest Era of US Imperialism
Read MoreIn the 3rd & 4th grade classroom, we started our unit on Westward Expansion (“How the 13 colonies became the 50 states”) shortly after the Trump administration abducted the leader of Venezuela. We are wrapping it up as the Trump administration is attempting to take over Greenland. The 3-4 class has learned about the Louisiana Purchase, the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Mexican Cession, the sale of Alaska, and the annexation of Hawaii at the behest of American sugar companies, and we have considered the methods and motives of American imperialism in the 19th century. The parallels between US imperialism of the 19th century and the 21st century can feel heavy to us, as teachers, but they also remind us of why we teach history, and why we teach it the way we do. -
STEM at Fayerweather: Conferences, Curriculum, and Camaraderie
This past fall, Stacey and I attended the Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers (MAST) conference in Marlborough, where we immediately felt at home among the tables of science merch, lesson resources, and a healthy dose of enthusiastic puns. MAST is the local chapter of the National Association of Science Teachers that put on the much larger conference we attended and presented at in Philadelphia last spring. The MAST schedule was packed with relevant workshops ranging from outdoor education and STEM simulations to data set integration and the evolving role of AI in the classroom. Navigating the dense program required some tough choices, but I was particularly drawn to sessions focused on integrating science into elementary classrooms and building teacher confidence in STEM. Attending these sessions reinforced just how advanced Fayerweather’s Lower School science program truly is; while many educators are just beginning to bridge these gaps, our school has spent years refining our curriculum through dedicated professional development.Read More -
A Stage for Every Voice: Fayerweather’s Unit Play and the Power of Student-Led Theatre
Read MoreThe Unit Play has been a Fayerweather tradition for over 30 years! Since the project began, it has taken many forms. At one point, participation in the play was mandatory for all Unit students, and rehearsals took place during the school day. Eventually, it shifted to an after-school program, with the genre alternating year to year between Shakespeare and a contemporary play. During the COVID pandemic, Fayerweather students were among the first to present Zoom theatre, even devising an original play specifically for the virtual format. Most recently, Fayerweather has participated in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild’s (METG) Middle School Drama Festival as one of 90 middle school members.Fayerweather students have thrived in the METG one-act festival, presenting Twelfth Night, The Con, and, this spring, The Giver.What makes this experience so special? Students take the lead in every way imaginable, serving as performers, technicians, designers, musicians, and audience members. Their efforts have been celebrated with special recognition awards for acting, musical performance, technical excellence, and creative design. However, our involvement with METG doesn’t begin and end with the drama festival. This December, our artistic students received additional recognition when Rosie Karlsson presented their original costume design at METG’s Excellence in Technical Theatre Contest. -
What We Mean When We Describe Ourselves as ''Progressive'
Read MoreAs my favorite season of the year comes to a close, I find myself grateful for moments of connection, such as long conversations with my grown-up daughter and time spent with friends, which remind me how restorative it can be to slow down and be present. I hope you and your children’s time away was similarly restful and rejuvenating.As we return to school and move deeper into enrollment season for the 2026–2027 school year, I’ve been reflecting on the language we use to describe who we are. One word in particular: progressive. We identify as a PreK–8 progressive school, and yet, in today’s cultural context, it’s worth asking what that word truly conveys, and whether it clearly communicates the educational experience we work so intentionally to provide.
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2026
Fayerweather Street School | 765 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 | 617-876-4746
Fayerweather is a private PreK, kindergarten, elementary and middle school. We engage each child’s intellect.